Traveling to foreign lands can be stressful, and for good reason.
In all honesty, there’s a lot that can go wrong when you’re traveling out and about in the world a long distance from home, especially overseas or in an entirely different country.
In these types of situations, you basically need to figure out how to stay safe without your usual base of support around you.
For example, when you’re traveling in a foreign land, you may not have access to the typical family and friends who could show up to lend you aid in a sketchy situation.
You also may not have access to many of the same resources and life infrastructures that you have access to when you are closer to home.
With that being said, you also have a lot of power to keep yourself safe, even in these types of settings.
And in this blog post, you’re going to learn 5 tips for navigating foreign lands with confidence—so that you can enjoy your trip without feeling too scared, nervous, or anxious along the way.
1. Have A Detailed Plan And Itinerary
Having a detailed plan and itinerary will help you to stay on target to achieve your travel goals without missing stops or succumbing to unexpected detours that could lead you away from your planned journey and path.
For example, you’ll want to write down all of your reservations, along with the addresses where you need to be to show up for those reservations—as well as phone numbers where you can reach the individuals on the other end, so that you have a point of contact if something happens.
It’s also a really good idea to use online mapping software to create a timeline that will show you exactly what you can expect in terms of travel time.
2. Always Have An Emergency Plan
It’s really important to have an emergency plan whenever you’re traveling in a foreign land away from home—and the reasons for this are pretty obvious.
Unfortunately, danger and disaster could potentially lurk along every intersection of your journey. Thus, it’s always a better idea to research emergency contact information ahead of time so that you have that information with you as you travel.
3. If Possible, Establish A Local Contact
Traveling in a foreign land (especially if you’re going to be doing some corporate traveling) is always safer and easier when you have local contacts to help you navigate this different culture, society, and geographic location.
There are plenty of travel-based websites where you can connect with other people to establish contacts on the other side.
But you also want to be careful that you don’t accidentally plan to connect with someone unscrupulous.
If at all possible, choose existing and trusted friends, family, or work colleagues, who you can at least meet up with while you’re visiting and away from the home territory of your own country.
This can help to provide a lot of peace of mind, and can also bring about a certain measure of safety.
4. Research The Area Well In Advance
It’s really important to research the local area before traveling to a foreign place.
For example, traveling to a city in another country that you’ve never visited before could lead you to a heightened risk of spending time in areas of the city (or even passing through areas of the city) that are a lot less safe than others.
But if you don’t do your due diligence and research the areas in advance, there may be no way to tell which parts of the city you should stay away from.
This is also why building an itinerary is so important.
This will literally allow you to plot out your entire journey, and to research every step of the way to make sure that you’ll be as safe as possible.
5. Keep Your Phone Close-By, Just In Case
Your phone can truly serve as a lifeline for everything you may need while traveling in a foreign land.
It can serve as a translation tool, a means for contacting emergency services, a communications device that you can use to network with local contacts, and even as a research tool to help you learn more about the local culture and geographic area.
It’s just always better to keep your phone on you while traveling so that you have it in case you need it.
And don’t forget to keep it charged up—and you may want to bring a charging block with you, just in case.
Conclusion
There you have it.
Our 5 top tips for navigating foreign lands with confidence.
Equipped with this information, you’re now ready to get out there and begin your traveling adventure.
Greatness awaits.
Happy trails, partner.
